Airbnb: $30 Billion Startup: This is what Wikipedia Can’t Tell You (Infographic)

Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community and peer-to-peer online marketplace and homestay network for people to list, book or rent short-term lodging in residential properties, with the cost of such accommodation set by the property owner.

The Story In Details

The story goes that two guys, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia moved to the city of San Francisco in Oct 2007. In order to pay their rent, they decided to make their living room a Bed and Breakfast haunt for three guests at a time. They did this by renting out three mattresses and serving breakfast. They made a website for this purpose. They got 2 men and 1 woman as their first guests and made $80 that night. It was at that moment, they realized the huge business potential of their idea. There was no turning back since.

In February 2008, Nathan Blecharczyk, technical architect by profession joined in as the third co-founder of Airbnb. And on Aug 11, 2008, the site airbedandbreakfast.com was launched officially. To help fund the site, they came up with innovative special edition breakfast cereals such as ‘Obama O’s’ and ‘Cap’n McCains’ after the presedential candidates that year.

Airbedandbreakfast.com got renamed to Airbnb.com in March 2009, expanding from just air beds and shared spaces to complete homes, apartments, castles, tree houses, private rooms, boats, manors, private islands, igloos and more. In 2010, they had 15 people working for them in their loft apartment, before finally moving into their first office space.

They continued to expand and grow rapidly. In February 2011, they announced their 1 millionth booking. In January 2012, they announced their 5 millionth booking, which they doubled to 10 million bookings in 5 months as on June 2012. 75% of the bookings came from markets outside of USA.

In May 2011, Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher invested in Airbnb and announced his role as a strategic brand advisor for the company. In July 2014, they made new design changes to their site and mobile app and revealed their new brand logo. In 2015, they sponsored the Manor F1 Team.

How does Airbnb work?

The site is free for everyone who is looking to either rent or sell their space.

Airbnb has a very easy sign-in process. Users, both hosts as well as guests, need to show their ID and add their profile picture. They need to get their phone number, email, address etc verified. All users can write as well as receive reviews.

Once the account is setup, the hosts can use the site free of charge for all services. They can list their space, specify the details of the room or home etc, location, pricing per night, write an overview of the space, add photos clicked by themselves or a team of professional photographers sent by Airbnb and how many people they are willing to accommodate.

The guests can easily search location, check in and checkout dates, specify their requirements as well as compare pricing and choose their affordable price range. Guests can also make a request to the host easily without any concerns or questions asked.

Typically, guests are required to pay between a non-refunadable fee of 6-12% based on the size of the reservation. The more expensive the reservation, the lower service fees for guests.

The Airbnb Brand

Today Airbnb is a highly successful brand with a company valuation at $30 billion. Below is a quick look at Airbnb as compared to other famous brand startups.

Did you know that the Airbnb valuation is more than these famous brands?